Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Quite a lot of the issues I was going to raise have been touched on. I welcome the organisations here today. With Brexit looming, in their estimation, which is the most exposed sector in terms of the risk in agriculture? A lot of discussions are going on at the moment and there is a savage focus on fisheries. Last week, Michel Barnier was offering 18% more of Irish fish stocks to the UK. That is quite serious, and I do not think that point has been picked up at all by the State. Are we just going to blindly go along with it and let our fishing industry go under? Are we offering 18% of agriculture as well? If we are, then will the 20% of lamb that we export be reduced to 2%? Where are we going to lose out most? Companies such as Carbery Group Limited in Ballineen, in my constituency, which is a great employer, has done much work in recent years to prepare. Are many companies prepared for what is going to happen next?

The question as to whether we have access to new markets has already been answered. Mr. Cullinan referred to flying calves to Belgium and such countries. Is there access to new markets for cheese, and probably the pig and lamb sectors as well?